Martic beats Pegula again and Gauff goes through Barty's withdrawal

You may not have expected it, but there it is. Petra Martic (30 years old and 25th in the world) got into the semifinals of the WTA 1,000 in Rome after beating Jessica Pegula for the fourth time in five matches. The Croatian, who had only won four matches in 2021 before traveling to the Italian capital, won by 7-5 and 6-4 in an hour and 40 minutes Y will face the Czech Karolina Pliskova, champion in 2019 who reaches the penultimate round of the tournament for the third consecutive year after lifting three match points and defeating Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (4-6, 7-5 and 7-6 (1)).

What Martic did had special merit, since Pegula had not lost a set in the entire tournament, but it is seen that he has taken the measure of the 27-year-old American and 31st in the ranking who has already beaten on all surfaces except on land, a surface on which they have not yet met. Petra had never passed the second round in the tournament and Jessica was coming as a rookie. In a scrambled first set, with five breaks, the Balkan broke for 6-5 and served; in the second set he went ahead twice and after 5-4 he resolved with his serve.

Gauff goes through Barty's withdrawal

Coco Gauff (17 years old) qualified this Friday to play her first semifinal of a WTA 1,000, which is also her first on clay, due to the withdrawal of Ashleigh Barty when the australian He beat him by 6-4 and 2-1. The number one in the world played with a bandage on the thigh of her left leg and a compression cuff on his injured right arm, the reason he officially decided to drop out. After a long break due to the rain when the match was 4-4 in the first set, the match was resumed and Barty scored that first set. He also dominated at the start of the second heat, but after the third game he called the physio of the tournament and He decided to retire to avoid greater evils and not jeopardize his participation in Roland Garros. Gauff will face Elina Svitolina or Iga Swiatek this Saturday, whose duel was postponed at 11:00 this Friday because of the rain.

Results WTA 1.000 Rome.